Ramallah, April 25, 2025—Israeli forces shot and killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy in the northern occupied West Bank today.
Abdulkhaleq Mosab Abdulkhaleq Jabour, 16, was shot in the chest by Israeli forces while he was closing up the shop where he worked around 3:35 p.m. today after Israeli forces began carrying out a military incursion into Salem, east of Nablus in the northern occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by Defense for Children International - Palestine. Abdulkhaleq fell to the ground, where Israeli soldiers surrounded him. Two minutes later, his aunt and another relative, in addition to several local residents, attempted to provide him with first aid, but Israeli forces continued surrounding Abdulkhaleq for at least 10 minutes. He was eventually placed in a civilian vehicle, which met an ambulance at the entrance to Salem. The ambulance transported him to Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, where he was pronounced dead at 4:10 p.m.
“Israeli forces are relentlessly targeting Palestinian children from Nablus to Jerusalem to Gaza without a moment of reprieve,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “Abdulkhaleq was clearly no threat to Israeli soldiers, and yet they fatally shot him anyway, and as usual, no one will be held accountable for killing a Palestinian child in cold blood. How many Palestinian children’s bodies is enough for the world to enact sanctions on Israel and force accountability?”
Two Israeli military vehicles entered the Palestinian town of Salem around 3:30 p.m. through its main entrance and began patrolling through the streets. After noticing the Israeli military’s presence, Abdulkhaleq began closing up the shop where he worked, located in the Tuta Square roundabout. Israeli forces hid among some olive trees located around 30 meters (98 feet) away from the shop, where they fired three bullets at Abdulkhaleq, striking him at least once in the chest.
Israeli forces have killed 24 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank in 2025, according to documentation collected by DCIP.
Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present. However, investigations and evidence collected by DCIP regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial or wilful killings.
In 2024, Israeli forces and settlers killed at least 93 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank, according to documentation collected by DCIP. Israeli forces and settlers shot and killed 71 Palestinian children with live ammunition, 17 Palestinian children were killed in drone strikes, three Palestinian children were killed in an Israeli warplane airstrike, one child was killed by Israeli-fired ground shell, and one child was killed by unexploded ordnance (UXO) left behind by Israeli forces.
